


Epic Proportions And Insurmountable Odds

by orphan_account



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Accidental World Domination, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, BAMF Tony Stark, Because I Have No Idea What I'm Doing, Civil War Team Iron Man, Extremis Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, Stephen Strange is a Good Bro, The Author Regrets Everything, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, Wong is a Good Bro (Marvel), World Domination
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:55:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24584908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Stephen Strange looked around at the world after the decimation, and promptly loses what's left of his remaining sanity.Because after pouring through the articles he's missed, catching up on what's left of the economy and the current political climate, and listening to Scott Lang try to explain what the hell happened with the "Time Heist," he realizes one, horrifying thing.He's seen this future before. This Endgame.And this, this is one of the timelines where they lose.So, he picks himself up, robs a grave (sorry, Tony), and promptly breaks every oath he’s ever taken regarding the Time Stone by chucking  the only person he knows of that could potentially secure their victory against Thanos back in time.Oops?
Relationships: Happy Hogan/Pepper Potts, Harley Keener & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes & Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Loki & Stephen Strange, Loki & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 133
Kudos: 642





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> It's Loki knows when in the evening, (is it morning?) and I have no idea what the Muspelheim I'm doing, but I have decided to write something for real. It's going to be an experience. 
> 
> Enjoy.

Stephen Strange was tired. So, so tired. He had expended much of his magical reserves by opening up so many portals from such a far distance away, and he was sure that he would pay for it sometime soon. An overwhelming grief was consuming him, it sank into his pores like the slime from Pordesat, and made every step feel like climbing up Mount Everest and back.

He thinks that the image of Tony’s dead body (and Peter Parker's tears, desperate for his father, a father he could never claim) will be stuck in his mind for the rest of his life. He almost laughs. Photographic memory. A blessing, and a curse. 

_Does he get to call him Tony? This isn’t one of the timelines where he’s been gifted that shy, honest smile, and the ‘call me Tony, please, Mr. Stark gives me hives.’ Did he deserve it? He condemned the man to death after all. No, don’t think about that._

The funeral was a quiet thing. There were a few flowers, and even fewer speeches, the silence of the onlookers heavier than anything they might have said. He thinks ~~Tony~~ Stark would have hated this. He would have wanted smiles and smirks and laughter, with various fireworks exploding in the dark night sky while AC/DC played in the background. Or maybe he would have wanted a funeral that was small, but elegant, composed of his closest friends and family. 

Once, close friends and family might have included him. Not here. Not now. 

Many of the Avengers had left already, to clean up, to run back to their families, to see the people who had vanished or find the people they had vanished from, all, in some way, shape or form running away from the ripples the arc reactor had made in the water. He could still see them. Could they?

Stephen (Stephanie, Doctor Wizard, Glinda, Harry Potter) did not allow himself that luxury. He sat on the pier and stared, wondering if he could spot the telltale blue of the arc reactor glowing in the water if he thought hard enough.

He scooted onto the edge of the pier, and tried very, very hard not to tear up. “ _Stark men are made of iron. What a load of bullcrap. If anything, I'd like to be made of vibranium. What about you Wizzy?_ No. Don't think about him. 

Was it worth it? A tiny voice in his head asks. Was it worth everything? Think of the economic collapse, the food shortages, the permanent deaths from suicides, car accidents, and plane crashes. Think of the _people_ who have suffered so much, for so long. He's looked far enough to know that they'll rebuild. Everything will go back to normal - better than normal, but it takes years (12 years, 8 months and 3 days.) Years of heartbreak and anguish, years of suffering and pain. Was it worth it?

He thinks he's been there for hours already, (But can he be sure? Can he be sure that this isn't one of the repeats, one of the loops, something he can never, will never, won't ever escape from) when a tiny hand taps his shoulder - slightly calloused already from long hours in the workshop with her father with a wrench or a screwdriver. 

Strange turns around slowly, hesitantly, and looks Morgan Stark in the eye. She has her father's eyes, brown honey coated ocean eyes, eyes that you could sink into, drown in, and stare at for days on end. There's a depth in her, a wisdom. She's clearly inherited her father's genius.

"Mum told me to ask you to get inside," Morgan smiles brightly, and skips around him. "She looked a bit worried. And you look sad. Are you okay?"

"Yes, dear, I'm perfectly fine, thank you for asking. I'll head inside now." He hesitated. "Are-are you sure your mother is fine with me coming in? ~~Because her husband is dead and it's my fault~~ I wouldn't want to impose."

"Mhm." She twirled her fingers into her hair, and her expression turned more serious. "Mom was going to come out and tell you herself, but she looked sad, and her eyes went all misty." She paused, then perked up, and started to grin again. "So, I came out and did it for her. She'll have less work to do now." 

A crack of thunder roared, and lightning burst across the sky. It started to rain.

He followed Morgan inside.

* * *

Pepper Stark was as welcoming as ever, as she flitted around the house, reminding him a bit of a bumblebee. Her eyes were rimmed red, and her voice seemed slightly hoarse, only serving to make him feel even more guilty. Her strawberry blond hair drifted around her shoulders as she poured him a cup of tea and put Morgan to bed. In around 8 million timelines, they had been good friends. He wonders if they'll be good friends here too. 

They make polite small talk for a bit - he doesn't comment about her frazzled appearance, and she doesn't comment about the bags beneath his eyes. They exchange phone numbers, and he slings back to the Sanctum. He collapses into bed with a sigh, and falls asleep. 

He's glad the Sanctum has soundproof walls.

* * *

The next morning, Wong looks concerned. This is a bad thing. A very, very bad thing. Wong never looks concerned. Ever. He only has two expressions - dead on the inside face, and/or laughter, but creepy. This is neither. 

"Stephen." Oh no. Wong even _sounds_ concerned. This is a threat of the highest magnitude.

Okay, fine. He's being a drama queen. He can almost hear Christine and Tony judging him inside his mind. (In 6 million 2 hundred and 4 timelines, they had been drinking buddies. In 9 hundred, Pepper had had a crush on her. In 896 futures, her affections were returned. ~~In 769 futures, one of them died before their second anniversary.~~ ) No, don't think about that.

Wong side-eyes him, and he realizes that he's been staring at nothing for a while now. Damn. 

Ordinarily, Wong would have pressed for information, but he seems to see the exhaustion in him, or maybe this crisis really is that dire.

"You, you looked at the futures? The timelines?" Okay, that was not what he expected. 

"Yes." He has, he's lived the same life millions of times, lived hundreds of lives within those lives, and lives within those. Is he even human anymore? 

"This was the only way?" 

"Yes." 

Wong bows his head, almost in defeat. 

"I had a sister." Oh. _Oh._ Another life, meaninglessly wasted, meaninglessly wiped from existence. 

"I'm sorry." And there's nothing left to say. 

* * *

Next week, Steve Rogers calls a meeting. 

"Hello everyone, thank you for coming today. I hope you've all been doing well." Watery smiles are exchanged all around, and hugs are given with gusto. They all seem more cheerful, especially Clint, who looked like he'd stepped right out of a horror movie before. Now, he's the rom-com. "Today, we're here to discuss returning the stones to their proper time periods." The room grows more quiet, and more serious. He knows this part. Steve Rogers places the stones back in their proper timelines, and he goes back to his long-lost lady love Peggy. He doesn't take a second to consider the countless lives he's erasing with his decision - Peggy had a husband and kids after-all - but no one could convince him otherwise. That was one of the things that stayed consistent through most timelines. 

Except for that one time he stayed with Bucky and his plums, and got married. 

"I got some Pym Particles from the past last time I was there with," he chokes a bit on the name Tony, but quickly recovers. "Tony, and if we mess this one up, we can always have Dr. Pym make some more. Hank Pym nods, then glares a bit. Stephen thinks it's because he thought Howard Stark had been the one to steal the Pym Particles back in the day, and that had been the reason he'd started preaching Stark hate. He finds it slightly amusing. 

"Rogers, when those stones have been put back, give the sorcerers the Time Stone please, we are its guardians, and the annoying little thing really is important." He pipes up before Scott Lang has a chance to, which happens in 2 timelines. The guy really likes listening to himself talk. Not that he can judge. 

Everyone stares. 

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

"Umm, Dr. Strange, you do know that the stones were destroyed by Thanos, do you not?" The fucking _raccoon_ says, sounding worried, but also slightly mocking. Were these people all dunces? _Dum-E, wear the dunce cap. C'mon, put it on. You know what you did._

"Well yes," he says, impatient, "but you did make a copy when Banner snapped, did you not?" The stares intensify.

"No, we didn't. Were we supposed to?" Banner said, almost sheepishly. 

What.

What?

"What the hell do you mean you didn't? Didn't Wong tell you to... You didn't talk to Wong, did you."

Now, Hope interjects. "Who the heck is Wong? Is he important?"

Rogers sighs heavily. "We tried to call him, but he was busy defending the Sanctums against someone he called Mordo? So, we didn't consult any magic users since that was the only one we had the contact information of." 

He almost started to giggle. This isn't how it's supposed to go. They were supposed to contact Wong, then Wong would tell them to bring back the stones with the snap so this timeline didn't collapse into madness, or be destroyed by Galactus or Dormammu. Then, they would put the other timeline's stones into their proper places. The Time Stone would return to the Sanctum, the others would be taken with the Guardians of the Galaxy, except for the Mind Stone, which would be used to rebuild Vision.

Without the stones, the most a timeline could last is a decade - time would start to unravel, reality would warp, distance and space would slowly change until everything collapsed in on itself, and the Mind and Soul Stones would ensure that no one would do anything until it was too late. 

"Strange, are you okay?" Captain Marvel spoke, breaking the awkward silence.

"Haven't you noticed?" He grunts out. "You should sense it, at least a bit. All of you should see it. Haven't you noticed anything odd going on lately? Remember the dust?"

Everyone flinches. 

"How did that not cause environmental problems? That amount of dust should have at least affected our breathing by a bit. What about Thanos and his army? How did they get here? He didn't have any Pym Particles. Captain Marvel, how did you rescue Tony and Nebula from the Benatar? Without a spaceship, going through the jump points is significantly slower, and for anyone but you, it would be impossible. How did you even find the ship in the first place?" 

The room starts to feel smaller, stifling. Cramped. 

"Strange, what point are you trying to make?" Peter Quill says apprehensively. "Cuz, I'd really like to be going to find Gamora right about now, so get to the point."

"Timelines can't survive without the stones. They fizzle out and die within a decade. You've doomed us all. But I can fix this." Stephen grabs the case Captain America is holding with all the stones, and he portals straight to Tony's workshop. He's seen where the gauntlet is, and how it's made, and Tony's shown him where he keeps his nanotech. FRIDAY tries to send out an alarm, but he mutes her with a flick of his wrist and a burst of orange. 

He summons the glove and the stones with his own, personal accio charm, ( _Yes Tony, like from Harry Potter,_ ) and he wills Tony to appear in front of him. The workshop doors are firmly shut, but Rhodey has taken to banging on the windows with his suit. He must have flown here. He knows better than to repulsor the glass - Tony made sure it was everything proof when the Hulk moved in for a time. 

Tony. Tony was always the linchpin for everything. Nothing worked without him. He was the centrepiece of every timeline he's checked so far. 

He thinks for a second, and grins.

Space, to transport him to where he needs to be. Time, to rewind the clock. Mind, so Tony remembers what has occured - he'll add some of his own memories too, just so he knows why he's back in time, Soul, to bring him back from the dead, Reality, to make his dream a reality, to make sure that reality doesn't collapse around him, only goes back, doesn't shatter, and finally, Power, to give him the Power he'll need to do this. 

He snaps.

The last thing he sees before he dies, is a bright, flash of Arc Reactor Blue. He smiles.

* * *

Thousands of miles away, Tony Stark wakes up with an electromagnet in his chest, and a car battery on the table beside him. 


	2. Afghanistan Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, ever since I posted the first chapter, I have been freaking out. People READ the fic. People LIKED? The FIC?!?
> 
> By the way, there's a bit of foul language because Tony and I are potty mouths, and also have no filter.
> 
> Thank you so much for the comments, kudos, bookmarks, and various other things. Thanks for READING it in the first place! 
> 
> Here's another chapter. :D

Tony Stark didn't expect much when he felt himself slip away into the dark depths and crevasses of death, but he sure as hell didn’t expect this. After the burning pain and agony and **noise** _of everything in all of the galaxy, this one and all the others, all barging into his head at the same time_ , dying was relatively painless, peaceful, and reminded him of going to sleep. He had many regrets, but in those final moments, all he thought of and wished for was that his family remained safe. 

Then, to wake up in agony because there was something in his chest, _and he couldn't breathe, why couldn't he breathe,_ was definitely a surprise. 

Was this some sort of Underworld? Was he supposed to relive Afghanistan over and over, relive the torture and the pain and _Yinsen_ again and again because of his various sins?

Hadn't he done enough already to end up in whatever Heaven or Valhalla there was? 

Did he waste his life?

No, if this were Hell, he wasn't going to take it lying down. He was going to change everything, from Yinsen's death to Thanos's fucking snap, and everything after that. 

But this wasn’t Hell, was it. This was time travel. Definitely time travel.

Wait, what? How did he know that this was time travel? That sounded absolutely ridiculous, and it shouldn’t be possible either. He didn’t _technically_ invent time travel, because their presence in the past created an alternate timeline. Plus, he definitely wasn’t himself from 2023. 

But the Stones could have sent you back, a tiny voice seemed to whisper in his head. 

What the fuck does he mean by that? He barely knew anything about the stones, other than the Scepter, and the Tesseract. He supposed that he knew a bit about Reality, or The Aether because of Jane Foster, but how would-

_Space, to transport him to where he needs to be. Time to rewind the clock. Mind, so Tony remembers what has occured - he'll add some of his own memories too, just so he knows why he's back in time, Soul, to bring him back from the dead, Reality, to make his dream a reality, to make sure that reality doesn't collapse around him, only goes back, doesn't shatter, and finally, Power, to give him the Power he'll need to do this._

**_What?_ **

Where did that come from? _(Mind, so Tony remembers what has occurred - he’ll add some of his own memories too, just so he knows why he’s back in time.)_

Well. That made a certain amount of sense. If someone sent him back and implanted an explanation as to why and how - but he still _doesn’t_ know _why_ he’s back. He used the Stones to destroy Thanos and his army. There should be no reason whatsoever that he should be back in time. 

Something could have gone wrong. Maybe he’d done something horrible by accident.

No, that’s not it.

He didn’t.

He _knows_ it somehow. 

Okay, that’s fucking creepy. Almost Maximoff levels of crazy shit to be honest. He doesn’t like people planting things in his brain, okay? Is that too much to ask?

He giggles, slightly hysterically, but it comes out as a choked cough, and _how did he forget how painful the electromagnet was?_

Tony devolves into a coughing fit, and the feeling of something on his lungs and jabbing into his ribs is as horrifying as it is painful. 

He hears someone come over and put a hand on his shoulder in a manner that’s meant to be comforting, and he almost puts his fist through the person’s face when he realizes-

“Stark, breathe. Come on, with me, three seconds in, three seconds out. Count with me,” says Yinsen, his soothing voice mellowing the pure panic he’s feeling right now, a timbre he’s never forgotten, no matter how much he may try to. 

Yinsen, my gods, _Yinsen_ . He almost starts crying. He never thought, never even _considered_ the thought that he might see him again. 

Yinsen doesn’t know him. Yinsen doesn’t know he knows about him.

_He’s going to save him if it’s the last thing he does._

He lays his head back onto the pillow, if that ratty abomination can even be referred to as a pillow, and starts to breathe again. 

Yinsen smiles a bit, and nods. “There you go. How are you feeling?”

“Well, would you believe me if I said ‘good’?” Tony snarks a bit, because he has absolutely no impulse control, and what impulse control he _does_ have is currently working overtime trying to resist the urge to jump up and hug him. 

Yinsen chuckles softly, and smiles. “I see your sense of humor has recovered already. Do you know what has happened?”

Tony grimaces, and thinks for a bit. He can’t give away too much, but he doesn’t know where in the timeline he is. This could be his first night in captivity, and therefore he would say that he doesn’t know, but it could also be down the line, and he could be feeling like this because of the waterboarding. 

Wait, when did he accept the fact that this was time travel? 

He tried to start speaking, not that he knew what he was going to say, but his throat had apparently decided to stage a mutiny since his voice didn’t seem to work. Yinsen leaned over, and gave him a glass of water.

“I’m sorry about that, we didn’t have any morphine or painkillers of any kind when we operated on you. Your voice must be hoarse,” Yinsen said, grimacing. 

Ah. No arc reactor in his chest yet, so this must be right after the first operation. What did he say the first time around?

“What the hell did you do?” There. That sounds satisfactory. 

“What I did was save your life.” He tuned out the rest of Yinsen’s speech since he already knew how it went. So, how is he going to get out of this? He doesn’t want to get tortured again, but would it be best to preserve the timeline or some magic bullshit like that? Would Rhodey even be able to find him if he escaped at a different time? 

“-underneath that gauze, there’s an electromagnet connected to a car battery to keep the shrapnel out of your heart. I’m shocked that you didn’t rip it off the second you woke up.” Heh. If only he knew.

“We’ve met before you know. At a technical conference in-”

“Bern. Yinsen, right? I was an ass.” 

“I’m surprised. And impressed. If I were that drunk, I wouldn’t have been able to stand, let alone give a lecture on integrated circuits.”

Tony shook his head and sighed. ”Eh, my skills were inherited. Booze comes with the name. And I aim to surprise.” Yinsen glances over, and for a second, Tony thinks he sees pity flash through his eyes. Tony averts his eyes, and glances up at the security camera in the corner of the cave. 

“That’s right, smile!” Yinsen sounds almost peppy as he grins into the camera with him like he’s taking a selfie. Wait, did selfies exist yet? 

The Ten Rings storm into the cave like last time, and he goes through their conversation on auto-pilot, pretending to look at Yinsen for translations even though he learned the languages spoken by the terrorist group right after the infamous press conference. The first one, he means. What is his life? 

Should he change things? What if he changes things too much, and everything changes, like the butterfly effect? What if things turn out worse, and it’s his fault? He doesn’t think that he could live with that, if it happened. 

_No. He’s meant to change things. He **must** change things, otherwise, his timeline is doomed to destruction at the hands of the Infinity Stones. _

Well, shit. 

“He wants you to build the Jericho missile. The one you demonstrated. This one.” Yinsen hands him the picture of his missile.

He thinks.

“Uh... Sure. Why not."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your comments, kudos, bookmarks, etc. give me life. Thank you so much.
> 
> By the way, do you guys (omg I get to say 'you guys' because there are actually 'guys' reading this fic!) prefer long chapters with longer update times, (maybe a week or two? a month if I feel really shitty) or shorter chapters, (this length-ish) with shorter update times (a few days to a week, two weeks if I feel really shitty)?
> 
> This probably needs extensive amounts of editing, but I'm posting it anyways. Let me know if you enjoyed it.


	3. The Great Escape

For a second, everyone in the cave was silent, goon numero uno in the front looking particularly dumbstruck. Then, the head idiot started to laugh, clapping him on the shoulder with a wide grin. That seemed to be the tipping point as the terrorists started to grin and chuckle ominously. Yinsen looked away. Only the years of training under the scrutiny of the public eye kept him from cringing, ashamed that he had disappointed _Yinsen_ , even though he _knew_ it was for a purpose. The faster he got out of this shithole, the faster he could blow this place up, the faster he could gut every single person here, the faster he could get _home_ , and while it would never compare to days at the cabin and the lake with Pepper and Morgan, it was still _home_ to him.

The terrorists brought him and Yinsen out to the center of the camp, and he shook hands with the head goon as they grinned wider than the media vultures that frequented ~~The Avengers~~ Stark Tower. 

This time around, he was very careful to not react to the Stark Weapons they had, although with the judgmental glares he was getting from Yinsen, that was getting exceedingly difficult. 

Everything was _fine_. He just had to remind himself over and over that this Yinsen didn’t know him, didn’t know the man he was/would be/wanted to be, this wasn’t _his_ Yinsen. 

He ordered the Ten Rings around, trying not to slip up and correct Yinsen when he made a slight mistake with parts that he needed. It would be _fine_. 

His hands and arms ached from carrying around the battery everywhere, and his chest felt like it was made of tissue paper, tissue paper that was trying to support a 10 pound weight on top of it. 

He drew out plans for an arc reactor he could make with the materials he had on instinct while his mind wandered. The process would be much faster this time since he wasn’t just working with scraps of an idea and lungs that refused to work properly because of the electromagnet and the _water_. 

So, what has he established?

First off, he has memories that aren't _his_ implanted in his brain, and isn’t that in itself a terrifying thought? If these memories are to be trusted, (which he’s still on the fence about) he was sent back by the Infinity Stones because something went to shit when he was gone. So, who sent him back? Why?

**_Strange._ **

Huh? What was strange? Were his thoughts strange, was he strange, was he doing something strange, come on, just _tell him already, please,_ when someone tapped his shoulder. Tony jerked around and flailed a bit when the wires connecting his chest to the car battery tightened and twisted. He flinched, and groaned. 

It was Yinsen. 

Tony glanced around quickly, and sighed in relief. While he was working, the Ten Rings had apparently exited the premises, likely pleased that he wasn’t putting up a fight. 

“Stark!” Oh, he’d zoned out a bit, hadn’t he.

“Stark, what are you thinking?” Yinsen hissed. “Are you not even going to try and defend your people? Do you want this to be your only legacy? Death?” He sounded so disappointed, and Tony turned away. 

There's a short, awkward silence, and in a split second, Tony makes a decision.

“Look, you think I wasn’t affected by that?” He said in a hushed voice. He grabbed Yinsen shoulders, and stared him right in the eyes. “Those terrorists have _my_ weapons, that means someone in my fucking company is double-dealing. It kills me to think about it, because I made those weapons to _protect_ people. My best friend is in the military. I just wanted to keep him _safe_. I just wanted to keep people _safe._ ” And make my father proud, he doesn’t say, but hears all the same. 

“I’m not building them a thing. But they don’t need to know that.” 

Yinsen shifted back, and looked him over again. He looked slightly bashful, although Tony didn't understand why. That’s what he ~~has~~ had Pepper for.

“So, what are you building now?”

“I am so glad you asked.”

* * *

It took around two days for the materials he needed to arrive, but when they did, they came wholesale. Piles and piles of various tools fill the cave, and they're of a much higher quality than the last time he was here, probably because they didn't need to torture him to get to this point. 

Yinsen is warmer this time, they're all a little more friendly, and Tony thinks Yinsen respects him a bit more nowadays.

The arc reactor was finished a few hours ago, and they prepared for another surgery. Yinsen just seemed impressed that he managed to pull this together so quickly - trying to keep the mood light, and Tony's ego properly inflated. He doesn't really like the word ego anymore, not that he can tell anyone why.

He doesn't say anything, but he's pretty sure that Yinsen knows that he's terrified. He knows that it's going to be painful without anesthetic. He doesn't want to be awake again. He doesn't want to wake with a hunk of poison in his chest. Last time, it was said by the few medical professionals he sought out that weren't scared away by the number of NDAs they had to sign, that it was a miracle he managed to survive in the cave in the first place. He doesn't know if his good fortune will repeat itself. 

It turns out that he needn't have worried, since apart from the throb in his chest that never disappeared until after Extremis, he feels perfectly fine. He wondered if his pain tolerance from later years transferred into his younger body.

He'd tried to search his memories for more information about... well. Everything, but all he found was the word "Strange" repeating over and over and over again. Sometimes, he got flashes of colour, memories and feelings that weren't his, a slight tinge of _something_ when he thinks about the sports car he ruined on his test flight of the suit, another when Yinsen told him about a multiverse theory one of his colleagues talked about 'that one time in Tibet.' Occasionally, a flash of green. ( _Doomed our reality, but I can fix this.)_

Two months go by without a hitch as they design the first model of the Iron Man suit, and he forms a mental list of the things he needs to do once he gets out of here _with Yinsen._ He repeats it like a mantra. ~~It's the wifi password. We're not savages.~~

 **_We're going to get out of here, we're going to get out of here, we're going to get out of here._** (For some reason, the loop ~~come to bargain~~ makes him feel nauseous too. He stops.)

There is less time for breaks and talking. Last time, they thought they broke him. This time, they didn't have to, so they're watching out for signs of rebellion. 

He talked to Yinsen as much as possible without their captors thinking they're slacking off, and they talk about things. They have the same conversations about family that they did before, except this time, he says that he does have a family, but he doesn't know if he'll see them again. ( _Morgan, Morgan, Morgan)_ Because even at this point in the timeline, he does, doesn't he? He has Rhodey and Happy and Pepper and _JARVIS, oh, how he misses JARVIS,_ and Yinsen looks a bit sad at that. Almost nostalgic. He knows why.

_He can't let Yinsen die this time._

He takes more precautions this time, makes sure that the suit can carry two, makes a shield for Yinsen to carry. He suggested that Yinsen should fly the suit, but he refused immediately. He doesn't know why, but it's probably better that way since he has more practice.

In 2 months, 4 days, and 3 hours in captivity, they're ready to leave. 

* * *

When Colonel James Rupert Rhodes finds Tony Stark three days later, he's alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, Tony. The poor, poor idiot. I'm very, very sorry about this. (Not.)
> 
> It seems as if the general consensus is short chapters with short update times. Cool.
> 
> Do you want Stephen to know about the future, or not? I have chapters half written for both scenarios, but I really can't decide which one I like better... 
> 
> Kudos and comments make my day. Thank you all.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp. Imma go die now. Bye.
> 
> This is my tumblr if you want to come talk to me. 
> 
> https://theragingpan.tumblr.com/


End file.
